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Pony: mons pays ce n'est pas mon pays, c'est l'hiver
10.20.2002
Montreal in the summer is a different thing altogether from Montreal in the fall. There is a certain spooky , desolate quality to the city until the first snowfall when everyone suddenly comes to terms with the winter. 'Ah, hell,' they say. 'It ain't getting warm for at least 5 months. Let's go dancing and generate our own heat.'
But for now, I think people are hibernating indoors and eating yams.
Montreal is the ultimate city for garage sale lovers. There are so many little stores and restaurants filled with bric-a-brac. Individual pockets of warmth. Walking down Rachel street last night past all the apportez votre vin restaurants, I walked across Mentana and down Marie Anne and I was the only one on the street. I looked up and saw a huge dimpled full moon. When I looked ahead again, I saw a window where two older, plump people were standing alone in the middle of a wooden dance floor in a room with red walls. It looked like they were whispering to each other. As I walked closer I noticed that they were moving, almost imperceptibly. They were gorgeous together. As I got to the window, I saw men lining one wall and women the other, both watching the couple intently. A sign on the door said 'tango lessons'.
I went to Fairouz's house with the other intern, Sasha, who is coming to India with me. A few former interns were there and we learned a bit more about what we will be doing and where we will be going. We will land in Delhi. After 2 weeks of travel, we go to Hyderabad and then to either Delhi or Orissa province (Bubaneshwar--a really fun name to say. go ahead. say it.). I might also spend some time in Kashmir which sounds more alarming than it probably is. In each case, I will be building web sites for either a women's org, a literacy org that is trying to set up secular schools, or a disaster prevention group. (I am not such a web site designer, but I am way ahead of the most of my fellow stagaires). That's all i know so far. It is still pretty vague. I think I am going to have to figure out my role more when I go tho India. I think I am going to have to create work. I also know that these orgs keep changing their mandate as the gov't "alters funding models".
OK, this is really embarassing to admit, but as I write this, I am watching this Disney movie for the 11-14 demographic: Punky optimist teen girl's mother gets married to principal of military academy she she is forced to attend. She struggles with her wacky individualist streak that she eventually learns to sublimate in favour of "service" to her fellow cadets. She joins the drill team who she first dismissed as "robotic" but then sees their routine as "swan lake". She falls in love with a senior named Brad who purses his lips in aroused bemusement with the young former individualist. Her mother, meanwhile, has left her urban businesswoman identity in favour of pregnancy and cooking. Will her new stepfather learn to hug? Will her real father show up in time for the big competition? Dad, can I go to military school? Everyone is backlit and they don't seem to have any classes.
Tonight I am going dancing at Bobards for Brazillian night. Gonna generate some heat.
UPDATE 1:01 AM:
It's snowing, folks. It is not ever November and the frigging snow has already started. Walking down park with Sarah, I was brushing stuff out of my eyes, only to realise, the stuff kept on coming. What was it? Ashes? Fallout? No, remember? This is snow. WTF? What insane settler decided to bring Europeans to the banks of the St. Lawrence river where the winter begins with no warning and has a distinctly lionlike exit. Damn you Champlain! Couldn't you have discovered Florida?
